Jordan on his Typhoon Scooter
My son has driven a scooter for several years. He wanted one instead of a car, and takes great pleasure in mentioning his gas mileage. The picture is of him riding in the neighborhood 4th of July parade; notice the sign on the side of his scooter.
I enjoyed riding his, and as gas prices rose, and I started working more from home, the idea of a scooter seemed practical for me too. I took the plunge and bought a Yamaha Majesty.
It is a jungle out there and other drivers are not looking for motorcyclists, so besides the Motorcycle Safety Foundation – Basic Rider Course, which I highly recommend to anyone contemplating a two-wheeler. I also purchased a book by Patrick Hahn titled Ride Hard, Ride Smart: Ultimate Street Strategies for Advanced Motorcyclists.
In the book, he discusses a phenomenon, documented by the armed forces, where a person in “danger” locks their attention on the danger, giving them no opportunity to avoid the situation. Pat advocates Focusing on the Escape, it takes willpower and habit to look for the way out, but it can be done.
Once when speaking I was about halfway through story I have used often, when I realized I had left out part of the set-up…
the part that makes the punch-line work,
the part that makes it funny.
This was an exciting time inside my head, as I let my mouth run on automatic. Nothing to do but plow through. I fell back on one of the founding principles of humor in speaking – The Audience is the judge, if they laugh it was meant to be funny, if they don’t laugh it was meant to be serious. So I carried through the rest of the story, past the point I usually got a laugh and into the next section.
Was it the smoothest escape?
No, some may have noticed a little skip in the flow, but I would bet that most did not even notice enough to register — Because I did not make a big deal about it. I focused on the escape.
Rather than locking my attention on the impending no-laugh-uncomfortable-silence at the end of the story and agonizing over this horrible mistake. I went on. The die was cast, the shoe was dropped, the door was opened, nothing to do but go through.
Focus on the Escape.
on Sep 8th, 2008 at 1:59 am
It is great that your son rides a scooter and takes pride in its low gas consumption. I think the younger generation is more aware of green issues than ours. Our politicians who come from the older generation are missing the point and need some learning from the kids!
on Sep 8th, 2008 at 7:29 am
He also tends to gloat a little when his little brother complains about the cost of fueling up the jeep!